Bottle storage question

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pirate252

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I just need this cleared up because I dont know for sure what I am supposed to be doing.

Once you bottle, can someone give me a schedule for how long you are supposed to age ales and at what temps?

I have sofar been puttin mine in a box and keeping them about 70-75

Can someone just lay out how long at what temps is proper for ales?

Thanks
 
Generally speaking, 2 weeks at the temps you mentioned would be fine for carbonation. Anything else is just subjective. Some folks may feel that X number of weeks makes a certain beer taste better. Others may have a different opinion. I would say the heavier the beer, the longer you want to age it. Other than that, just go with your tastebuds. After a few weeks, try one. If it tastes a little harsh or what have you....wait another week or two and see what happens. Do what works for you.
 
So you are supposed to age at 70 degrees...ish I was just wondering if it was better after the 2 weeks or so it takes for carbonation to take place to move them into a cooler location
 
I have noticed that it takes time for the 'green' flavor to disappear. You'll know it when you taste your beer and all the elements are speaking to you. Before that time you will usually only experience certain dominant characteristics that will remain and some that will not! I have a Nutbrown that tasted like Centipedes. No kidding. Up to the 5 week mark (from inception, 2 in the primary then bottled) it had the aroma and flavor of Centipedes. Everything about it was beautiful...the carbonation was just what I wanted, the color was a gorgeous nut-brown. The Centipede thing was only there on the nose and tongue for a few seconds but it was there. It disappeared though about the 5th week.

So the long and the short of it is...let your taster be your guide. I can seriously recommend tasting one (1) single bottle each week to probe for carbonation, flavor and color. Take notes. You really only should need to do this once to establish a rough timeline for a particular recipe. But the guys all give sound advice...usually the lower gravity and more straight-forward the recipe (make that simple grain bill) the less time it seems to bring it to maturity...there are exceptions though so be aware of that as well.

Keep in mind, if you drop the temperature too low, these processes slow down and can possibly come to a halt. The best method I have found for Ales is a week in the bottle at ferment temperature to help the carbonation and then into my cellar at about 55-58° F to condition for as long as it needs.
 
OK awesome. Both of the ones I have bottled right now are medium complexity I would say, they are both extracts with steeps grains, one with about 1 lbs and the other with 3 lbs (that one is the red) and it has a lot of different ones in it. I also dryhopped the pale though so I am sure that probably adds some time to the recommended aging. I will let them sit at 70ish for a week and a half two weeks then, since I dont have a way to cellar keep them in the 60-70 range.

Also has another question, my bottle capper put kind of a dent in the top of the cap when it releases the bottle, those are starting to pop up, they look kind of like those safety buttons on those vacuume sealed things, but they are popped up...

Is that normal? I didnt see that on my first batch till about week 3 and only a few did it. this time they are all doing it on about the 4th day... I dont have a buch of bombs on my hands do I? I kept them both in the primary (since I dont do 2 stage) for 3 weeks then bottled, both had about the right FG and were defiantly done bubbling, added 4 oz of corn sugar....

Thanks
 
zoebisch01 said:
I have noticed that it takes time for the 'green' flavor to disappear. You'll know it when you taste your beer and all the elements are speaking to you. Before that time you will usually only experience certain dominant characteristics that will remain and some that will not! I have a Nutbrown that tasted like Centipedes. No kidding. Up to the 5 week mark (from inception, 2 in the primary then bottled) it had the aroma and flavor of Centipedes. Everything about it was beautiful...the carbonation was just what I wanted, the color was a gorgeous nut-brown. The Centipede thing was only there on the nose and tongue for a few seconds but it was there. It disappeared though about the 5th week.

So the long and the short of it is...let your taster be your guide. I can seriously recommend tasting one (1) single bottle each week to probe for carbonation, flavor and color. Take notes. You really only should need to do this once to establish a rough timeline for a particular recipe. But the guys all give sound advice...usually the lower gravity and more straight-forward the recipe (make that simple grain bill) the less time it seems to bring it to maturity...there are exceptions though so be aware of that as well.

Keep in mind, if you drop the temperature too low, these processes slow down and can possibly come to a halt. The best method I have found for Ales is a week in the bottle at ferment temperature to help the carbonation and then into my cellar at about 55-58° F to condition for as long as it needs.

How do you know what centipedes taste like?
 
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